Bob Jones University and the Bruins Foundation are hosting “An Evening with Tim Tebow”

Adam asked:What about professional athletes and the local church, given how many pro games are on Sundays? Can a professional athlete still somehow be a faithful attender? Would this lifestyle conflict with the importance of the local church? I don’t know the answer to these questions but thought I’d toss the bone if somebody wants to bite it.

I know one personally. A Christian young man from my small hometown area in Maine just completed a 10 year career as a journeyman player for a number of teams in the NFL. Along with participating in weekly Bible studies he attends church wherever he is, if possible, on Sunday mornings. Because of the games, he seldom can attend a Sunday evening service, but I’ll let that go. My retail job gave me the same obstacle. In the off season, he is a regular attender/member/participant in a small local church in a small town. BTW, he tithes!!!

[Bert Perry]

Adam, what about police officers, doctors, nurses, and other helping professions? It’s worth noting that these very categories—as well as athletes—were known in Bible times, and interestingly none of the New Testament authors call them out for working while others were in church. I would infer, really, that the ancient church had a somewhat different model of fellowship that we might do well to decipher to reach out to anyone who will have difficulty being in church on Sunday. Our Lutheran brothers do it a lot with Saturday services—we might consider the same.

Saturday services, an option I’m greatly in favor of:

https://sharperiron.org/forum/thread-saturday-services-pros-cons

Last Saturday evening we had over 600 in attendance (our Saturday attendance just keeps growing!), including many whose professions had them working on Sunday.

And no, I doubt points 1-4 really have anything to do with the issues some of us have. The main issue is called Tim Tebow. We don’t hate him (in fact, he seems like a nice guy), and I really have no idea where he is with the Lord and wish him the best. But as a discerning parent of two daughters (13 and 16), I’m unsure that the values he represents are compatible with where we are in our faith. I’d hesitate to hold him up as a role model in spite of John 3:16 scrawled on his face. That’s noble but not enough to undo other things. He took his shirt off for GQ. He promoted The Shack. These are acts that speak to his character (and questionable theological understanding), and I’d for one not be thrilled to have my daughters Googling him and fawning over his pecs. That’s simply not helpful in promoting their understanding of what a godly man/husband should be. So the less I promote somebody like that to them, I more I can protect their hearts and try to point them to values that have greater eternal impact. God bless those who don’t share these concerns, but that’s where some of us live. It doesn’t mean we hate Tim Tebow; it means we love our kids.

Thanks for reminding me why I rarely discuss anything at SI.

Adam Blumer wrote:

I’m unsure that the values he represents are compatible with where we are in our faith. (emphasis mine)

I’m concerned by the ethos of Adam’s statement. It implies that a paternalism is required to protect and prevent young minds from totally and unequivocally adopting the values of any speaker at a Christian fellowship.

Young adults, especially those in college, are simply not that naive.

I remember some of the professors in Bible College printing the following disclaimer regarding the textbook on their syllabuses: “______ college does not fully endorse all the statements made in this text or all the personal and doctrinal positions held by the author.” Duh. It’s the same ethos, and does not have to exist.

Bible college students of all people should be equipped to discern what the Bible says and apply it. Not everyone will agree on all points of application or even interpretation.

It’s utterly lamentable if the biggest fear of the Tebow detractors is that “His Christianity isn’t our Christianity, and we can’t expose our children to it.”

[Jim]

It strikes me that:

1. If you are going to have intercollegiate Athletics …
2. That a sports fundraiser is appropriate …
3. And you will have a sports-related speaker that will draw (so “Billy Bob” from the church softball team probably not the best choice)
4. And you are a Christian organization so you would want a Christian speaker

I suspect that the BJU critics here (Don, Adam, Wally) are miffed by point # 1!

[Adam Blumer]

Thanks for reminding me why I rarely discuss anything at SI.

Adam, haven’t you just judged Tim Tebow in the same way you say you’ve been judged? And really, how many people could weather the full body cavity exam that’s out there? I know I couldn’t, and I know Tony Dungy couldn’t, and so on. So while I tend to agree with concern over the Shack and GQ, that’s really par for the course for what we’re going to find in our churches. If we haven’t heard it, it’s because we haven’t listened.

I have had the privilege of working with schools and their sports programs for decades, both with well-established (mature) programs and with competitive sports initiatives. Speaking observationally and from my experience only, I’m not sure I could point to one school where competitive team sports became influential and it actually improved the spiritual focus or productivity for that organization.

On the individual level, there have been, maybe, a handful of, literally, thousands where the discipline of the team sport experience actually benefited them in some tangible spiritual way.

Team sports may have at one time had the ability to facilitate spiritual growth, but so did the brazen serpent. However, in our generation it is a primary idolatry of our culture and little different than Nehushtan—a thing of brass.

In the cesspool of celebrity culture Tebow is definitively the bright, assumably valuable object floating on top. However, I’m not sure the wise thing to do is do a header into the cesspool in the hopes that the shiny object will prove valuable enough to tolerate the stuff that you’d inevitably get with it.

Hasn’t BJU had intramural sports on campus for decades (perhaps since its inception in 1927)?

Why is it that sports @ BJU seem to have become a point of contention (for some) only since BJU began to compete on an intercollegiate level?

(Or am I mistaken in having that impression?)

I won’t have any more time today for SI (to the delight of many) but I thought these links might be of interest in the discussion.

Within the last 4-5 years, he has appeared with Roman Catholics, a Oneness Pentecostal, a female charismatic preacher, and many others:
2013 Wildfire Men’s Impact Weekend (in Greenville) with Willie Robertson and T. D. Jakes:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1681891-tim-tebow-talks-streaker-troy-polamalu-and-faith-in-greenville-south-carolina

http://www.foxcarolina.com/story/22658246/slideshow?widgetid=205096

http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/4844472307.html

Together 2016 with Lecrae, Matt Maher, Francis Chane, Christine Caine, Pope Francis, etc.:

https://www.osv.com/OSVNewsweekly/National/Article/TabId/717/ArtMID/13622/ArticleID/20303/Pope-addresses-thousands-gathered-at-National-Mall-in-video-message.aspx

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865658255/Former-NFL-star-Tim-Tebow-issues-a-challenge-to-all-Christians-We-have-been-given-a-command.html

Catalyst 2017 with Andy Stanley, Bill Hybels, Christine Caine, Hillsong Worship:

http://pulpitandpen.org/2017/06/22/tim-tebow-teams-up-with-host-of-false-teachers-at-catalyst-conference/

https://www.facebook.com/events/143375776232520/

http://www.jmlalonde.com/5-reasons-attend-catalyst-atlanta-next-week/catalyst-atlanta-full-speaker-lineup-2017/

http://www.jmlalonde.com/catalyst-atlanta-2017-recap/

2018 Passion Conference with John Piper, Christine Caine, Matt Redman, Louie Giglio, etc.:

https://www.church.org/2018/01/04/passion-2018-day-2-recap/

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/2018/january/32-000-millennials-are-ascended-on-atlanta-and-washington-d-c-to-worship-jesus-in-a-big-way

https://relevantmagazine.com/culture/watch-louie-giglio-and-tim-tebow-speak-to-young-leaders-at-the-passion-conference/

From the promo at bju.edu, this is how the event in March is portrayed:

Enjoy an exciting family-friendly evening as you learn about BJU Bruins Athletics and hear from two-time national champion, Heisman trophy winner and former NFL quarterback, Tim Tebow. At the event, Tebow will speak on how he has been able to use sports as a platform for Christ.

So it appears that for Tim he has headlined with leaders in Evangelicalism, Charismatism, Catholicism, and Trinity denying heretics. Now he’ll appear with fundamentalist leaders. Might as well collect the whole set.